1. Technical Field of the Invention
Implementations consistent with the principles of the invention generally relate to the field of disk drive technology, more specifically to disk drive actuator assemblies and methods of manufacturing thereof.
2. Background
Conventional disk drives comprise a mechanical housing which encloses one or more rigid discs that typically are rotated at a constant speed. A plurality of actuator arms is typically used to support heads that read data from and write data to concentric circular tracks on the discs. Existing disk drive actuator assemblies employ pivot bearings that extend upward from the mechanical housing to mount one or more disk drive actuator arms to permit the actuator arms to rotate about the pivot bearing to precisely place a particular head over a desired disc location to be read or written.
Existing disk drive actuators have used various methods to attach actuator arms to disk drive actuator pivot bearings. Exemplary methods have included press fitting, adhesive bonding, set screws, threaded pivot shafts and nuts, wavy washers, snap rings, and tolerance rings/interference bands.
However, each of these methods suffers from one or more of the following problems: high cost of components, high cost of assembly, poor reworkability, outgassing, component shifting from shock events, uneven radial loading resulting in uneven pivot friction and seek/settle issues, short distance between outermost axial contact points resulting in pivot rocking, pivot friction increase from radial loading, and/or low radial stiffness resulting in poor assembly dynamic performance.
Thus there is a need in the art for a cost effective means of holding a disk drive actuator arm in place with respect to a disk drive actuator pivot bearing, while addressing the above issues or other limitations in the art.
There is a need in the art for disk drive actuators that prevent shifting of a disk drive actuator arm with respect to a disk drive actuator pivot bearing due to shock events and provide improved radial stiffness to enhance performance of the disk drive actuator assembly. There further is a need for disk drive actuators that have reduced impacts on pivot friction. There also is a need for disk drive actuators with reduced sensitivity to changes in radial clearance between the actuator bore the pivot outside diameter due to size variation.